Dr Moron

On Monday I took TSC to his follow-up appointment with the eye specialist. I don't like this man. Firstly, he always keeps us waiting. And I'm not talking about 15 minutes either. When TSC went in for the op, he waited for four and a half hours. Secondly, the doctor has this patronising way of speaking to people, like he's the only one over the age of five in the room. That is one of my pet peeves in life (probably because I'm small and tend to get it a lot as people think I'm younger than I am).

Also (and this is the biggie), the twit didn't explain properly to TSC how to use the meds he gave him at the last appointment. Instead of the little eye-drop bottles with stick-on labels that contain dosage details and instructions like you'd get at the pharmacy, TSC was given bottles with handwritten orange stickers that just had the name of the drops, not how often / how long to use them for.

I was at the last appointment, and I made notes on how often TSC needed to use the drops (the clear one needs to be kept in the fridge and should be used morning and night; the one in the white and green bottle should also be used twice daily but doesn't need to be refrigerated; the tear gel should be used at least four times a day...etc).

After a week of TSC using all these lovely, expensive meds, I asked how long he had to use them for. He didn't know - neither the nurse he saw after the op who dished them out, nor the moronic doctor had mentioned it. "Well call them!" I said.

But the doctor was on holiday. He was still on holiday when TSC got the paint in his eye. I couldn't believe he hadn't left someone responsible for his patients. TSC explained he had - his associate, who would happily see TSC. And charge him his exorbitant new-patient consultation fee.

We reasoned that if nobody had said anything, the meds were probably meant to be taken until the follow-up consultation.

So, on Monday, we get there and the doctor asks TSC how his eye is doing. TSC says it's still sore, scratchy, light-sensitive and blurry and that the meds aren't helping - they actually seem to make it worse. At which point the doctor says that they probably are making it worse, seeing they are only meant to be used for a week post-op. He also manages to make it sound like we are silly children who didn't listen properly and that this is all our fault. I interject that we weren't told how long they were to be used. "Oh. Sorry," he says nonchalantly, before going on to tell TSC that by using the drops, he's probably made the eye far worse than it could be and that he'll need another prescription of new expensive meds to correct the damage.

He removes the last stitch from TSC's eye (shudder!) and shooes us out of his office. Without the promised prescription. TSC will now need to call and go through to pick it up. What a waste of time!

Not happy with this doctor dude - supposedly one of the top specialists in his field in the province. I have a fantasy of breaking into his house while he's sleeping and sticking an earbud (Q-tip) into his eye and yelling, "How do you like that, hey? Hey?!"

Grrrr.

Notes on the weekend

• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was pretty good. Not fantastic, but not awful. There are those who say it's too long, and I do agree that it could easily have been a bit shorter. For those who criticise the believability of it all... I ask you: why did you go and see a movie about robot aliens from outer space in the first place? I went to see this film because I think Michael Bay does fantastic action sequences, even if plot is not his strong point. I also have enormous respect for actors that can be convincing when they're doing scenes with robots that aren't actually there at all (I mean, looking like you're actually scared of something that's supposedly chasing you but doesn't even exist outside of a PC monitor is pretty impressive). The CGI is also some of the best around, so I can forgive the movie for most of its faults (too long, a bit all over the show, a few plot holes and Megan Fox may be gorgeous but is also really annoying when she opens her mouth).


• The Irene Village Market is one of my favourite places to shop. For me, it's worth the trek through to Pretoria. I picked up some canvases at ridiculously low prices, a gorgeous rusted cup-and-saucer pot for my mini rose plant and loads of really yummy deli stuff (including the best hot chocolate powder ever, some Rose Cream Turkish Delight for my MIL, cabanossi for TSC (can't stand the stuff myself) and proper koffie koekies. Even TSC had a good time, and he hates markets.


• Our guest room is nearly finished. We have fixed and painted the walls and ceilings, repaired the crumbling windowsills, stripped the windowpanes and repainted those too, replaced the revolting light fixture and the ugly plastic cupboard handles, washed the carpet (which was NOT fun) and given it a complete clean. We're now busy moving the furniture back in, hanging the curtains and positioning the "artworks" I've created for the walls. I'm hoping to finish up this evening and take some pics to post here.


• Yesterday's Formula One Grand Prix was one of the more exciting races of the season. Mark Webber won his first race in his eight years of driving. I'm very glad for him, especially seeing he spent the winter recovering from a broken leg. I think it's also great fun that the competition between Webber and teammate Vettel is heating up and that Button is getting challenged by a host of drivers. The drivers of the McLaren team (which I have supported for the past nine years) had a mixed day. Kovalainen finished in the last points-paying position, which was pretty good, seeing he didn't have the benefit of all the new parts Lewis Hamilton had on his car for the race. Hamilton had a miserable time with a puncture at the first corner which sent him right to the back of the pack. Both drivers seem to be more competitive though, and are using their KERS-equipped cars (kinetic energy recovery system) nicely.


• Our church has started a new series called "Supernatural", which looks like it will be interesting. Last night's sermon was on Lucifer. Fascinating stuff! Can't wait for next week's on Angels and Demons (the beings, not the movie).


• TSC went back to varsity today. Shame, he was not keen, poor man. He was up and out of the house at 6am to miss the traffic. I admire him - I am not a morning person at the best of times, and getting up in dark in the freezing winter mornings is pure torture to me. I'm lucky in that I live 15 minutes away from the office, so I only have to leave the house just after 8am. In summer I do my exercise in the mornings, but in winter I do it after work so that I can postpone the crawling / falling out of bed until 7.20 am. This is me, every day:

Things I take for granted

Having Vusi stay with us for a few days has really highlighted how much I take for granted. His wonder at and enjoyment of things I see as completely normal, like having a microwave or a TV or being able to drive to work instead of walking, makes me take stock of how truly blessed I am and be grateful for what I have.

Going to movies, eating at a restaurant or being able to bath every night are suddenly awesome privileges I enjoy instead of routine parts of life. Having my own computer and a job that covers the bills (even if it's not my first choice in what I'd like to do) are bonuses that millions of people don't ever get to have.

Vusi's gratitude at the smallest things - a jacket and old cellphone that TSC no longer uses and a shirt I bought for a friend that didn't fit - stirs me to want to help those who have less than I do. TSC is helping him to draw up a well-formatted CV to try to get him more work, and such a small thing that takes up maybe an hour of our time may perhaps help this young guy to climb up another step in the food chain.

It's that whole starfish story again - the moral is help those you can... it may change a life more than you can imagine. In South Africa, where there's a beggar on every street corner, it's good to remember that. I don't believe giving R5 to every guy who asks me for money is the answer (I'd be broke in two days), but I do think that instead of letting the problem of poverty overwhelm me, I should do what I can do to help.

Small things like donating my old clothes, buying baby food for a struggling mom or teaching someone basic computer skills CAN make a difference. My mom is on the committee of a children's home and I'm sure there are ways I can pitch in there. Hmmm... ideas...

Vusi may be heading home tomorrow morning, but he's definitely leaving us with lots to think about.

And I leave you with this to think about...

Me on movies

Yesterday we had no phones / internet at work for most of the day. Not Telkom's fault this time. Now that the overdue account has been settled we're back online. Which is great - most of the stuff I do depends on either phone or internet.

I'm using this as a getting-up-to-speed post on a few movies I've seen lately because I can't keep my opinions to myself. Your opinions are also welcome, of course.

Ice Age 3:
I was not expecting much from this movie. The second sequel is usually not worth watching, in my opinion. But I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. It's not brilliant, by any means, but it is an enjoyable, silly candy-floss film. And it's nice to see one of those every once in awhile. My only real bone with it is that Diego didn't get as many good lines... he's my favourite :-)

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian:
I didn't choose to see this movie. The first one was more than enough for me. But we have a chap called Vusi staying with us for a few days (helping TSC to paint the house) who has never been to the cinema before, so we took him to Montecasino to see this one. He loved it, and watching him laugh made me laugh too. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Daft, but with a few good laughs. I wouldn't recommend it, but I'm glad Vusi enjoyed it. Afterwards he said, "Everything else seems so small now, after that big screen!"

Seven Pounds:
We took this out on DVD over the weekend because people keep telling me "you HAVE to see it!" I don't know why, actually. It wasn't great. Without spoiling things, as soon as I saw the jellyfish and took notice of the all the sick folks, I guessed the supposed "big twist ending", so there were no surprises for me. When a movie is supposed to be a surprise, not having one kind of makes it pointless. It was just long and sad. So we watched Crocodile Dundee II afterwards and the total eighties corny-ness (yes, it's a word. In my world) of it all banished the misery of Seven Pounds.

What movies have you seen lately that are worth watching?

If we had a South African version of Crocodile Dundee, I'm sure this type of scene would appear in it... (In fact, I think there was something in one of Schuster's flicks)...

Dear Ruby,

In the great tradition of your blog, I am celebrating your special day with a letter.

It was lovely to see you for supper at Moyo on Friday, even if you were a bit late ;-) The food and atmosphere were great, as were your friends. But seeing you and catching up was my best bit. Of course!

I hope you are surviving your slaves at work today and that you get spoilt by friends and family. You are such a special person - full of laughter and fun, incredibly generous and always game for anything - and I wish you every good thing for today and the year ahead. And always, in fact.

Thanks for being awesome, Rubyshoes. Instead of singing happy birthday, imagine TSC and I serenading you as such: Moyo, moyo moyo moyo... moyo, moyo moyo...

Hehe... Take care, friendster. *Hugs*

Tamara

PS: Please let me know when you have a gap in your insane life between studying, working and socialising so I can give you the photos of your birthday supper!

It's FRIDAY!

TSC's eye is doing much better. Thank goodness. Although Damaria reckons being married to Darth Vador would be fun, I'd be scared he'd turned around one day, breathing all heavy-like and say "I AM YOUR FATHER" or some such crap ;-)

I managed to get all my freelance deadline-is-today work done yesterday and invoice, as well as putting together a kick-ass birthday gift for my mother in law, so I am in a fairly good mood, despite the fact that I am bored out of my mind at work.

Boss has been in Cape Town and then had meetings this morning, so I am waiting for her to get back to clarify various importnant things before I can get on with anything.

We are going to the lovely Ruby's birthday supper tonight, which should be fun, and then watching rugby with friends tomorrow. What are you up to this weekend?

I want to watch movies, read magazines, paint walls, play in my garden and generally enjoy being in my house. Oh, and try out a new biscuit recipe. This Sunday at church, the last week of our Sex in the City series, we are having ladies-only and men-only services which should be interesting.

On that note, I leave you with a Friday funny:

Daffy Duck on a dirty weekend calls hotel reception and asks for a condom.The receptionist says, shall I put them on your bill?

Daffy replies...
Don't be thucking thupid I'd thufficate!!!!

A real eyesore

Poor TSC! Although it is his own fault, silly man.

We are repainting the upstairs rooms in our house at the moment (adding a bit of colour to two feature walls and giving a fresh lick of paint to the walls that have marks from the paintings the previous owners had hung). TSC is very handy in this regard as he spent three years at a painting and waterproofing company. But with his eye op, one would think he'd be careful while scraping old paint off the ceilings. Because he wasn't wearing safety goggles, yesterday he managed to get a fleck of paint in the tender eye that was operated on two weeks ago. It scratched the inside of his eyelid and seemed to get stuck there.

He tried washing it out with water, then with tear gel, but nothing worked. I suggested that maybe it would come out during the night, but this morning his eye was even more swollen and red and he said it felt like the paint was still there. So he made me get a torch and try to get the paint fleck out with an earbud (Q-tip). I worried that this would cause more irritation, which it did, but he was insistent.

He was in such pain that I suggested he move his doctor's appointment forward. No can do - the doc is on a two-week holiday. His associate can only see TSC tomorrow and wants to charge him a ridiculous amount.

I spoke to my mom (who is a GP) and she reckons he should go to a hospital with an opthalmology unit and see a doctor in casualty. I phoned him to tell him this and he said it's feeling a bit better, so he'll wait and see if it's ok by this afteroon. Typical! I hate seeing him in pain, but he won't let me or anyone else try to help him. Grrr... Love him so much but wish I could just throw him over my shoulder and take him to the doctor right now!

At present, he looks something like this: